Free Stuff Friday: Polyrhythmic Sequencer, FM with Simpler, and Tape Saturation

This week’s Free Stuff Friday is heavy on techy tools - but that doesn’t mean anything is hard to use. Even if you aren’t familiar with the concepts of the downloads below, give them a try and you’ll soon be making music that you didn’t even know you had in you.

Mathematical! Euclidean Polyrhythms

“Polyrhythmic Euclidean sequencer/arpeggiator” might sound daunting, but have a listen to what Polyrhythmus for Max for Live can do:

From Benniy Bascom, Polyrhythmus provides inspiring and sometimes surprising results - whether you use it to sequence drums, or a melody. Throw it on a track and start playing around with parameters - you’re bound to come up with something fascinating.
Download Polyrhythmus

Freq Out

“Frequency Modulation” or FM synthesis is another term that often seems daunting - but is in fact relatively simple. By modulating the frequency of one sound source with another, you can create timbres that range from wild and alien to beautiful and bell-like. 

In the video above, Alec Brady demos an Instrument Rack from Saved by Technology, allowing you to run a sample through FM processing. It’s a great tool for exploratory sound design.
Download the FreqMod Sampler

Plus, don’t sleep on another fine creation from Alec - an Instrument Rack for using Simpler as a granular synthesizer. Check out a previous Free Stuff Friday to get it.

Old Tapes

When you think of a “tape sound”, are you thinking of something clean and professional studio-quality? More likely, you’re thinking of the hiss and character of a warped, rusty machine, like you’d hear from Boards of Canada:

The distortion and pitch-warble give a gritty, vintage character to the sounds. Put a similar character on your sounds with the Lo-Fi Tape Player Emulator, an effect for Max for Live from musician Lucas Ashland and the blog, treesarechill. In true gritty fashion, the effect will also sum its track to mono.
Download the Lo-Fi Tape Player Emulator

That’s all the free stuff for this week. Have some free stuff to share with us? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, and don’t forget to use #FreeStuffFriday.